windows 1 following the painting over of his beard just now
3:12 PM: this morning i went to the dentist in alamosa to have my bone graft stitches removed. i just got back a few hours ago, so i had only a little over an hour to paint. what was most pressing for me was to take out the beard of the crouching window repair guy. it wasn’t working at all compositionally. i’ll make further adjustments in the morning when i’m fresh.
BELOW: with & without the beard
5:56 PM: today i continued work on the new oil: windows 1 and on an older watercolor/collage on paper: 8/7/20 watercolor/collage, which i combined using collage with another piece from that period.
windows 1,
windows 1 has gained a second figure, seen from above is standing in front of a ladder installing a window. the main figure, who is bending over, holds a measuring tape, and is wearing a colorful t-shirt.
i won’t be in the studio tomorrow morning, since i have my dentist appointment 10 days after the bone graft/extraction. if it looks good, she’ll remove the stitches.
1:43 PM: as the work on installation of our new windows progresses, i’ve been documenting the progress, photographing the installers doing what they do every day. today i felt the urge to use some of this material to create a new series of paintings. we’ll see if it goes beyond this first in the series, simply titled windows 1.
most of the photos i shot were from our upper floor looking down, but not this one. if it actually does progress and become a series, it will in some respects mirror what i was doing in greece in the’70,s making paintings of athenian construction workers who were in the neighborhood of my studio at the foot of the acropolis. cut & paste this link to visit this page and view some of them: https://www.philiptarlow.com/art-created-in-greece
and if i decide to use the photos of the installers i shot from above, that will mirror my ano kato series, which you can see here: https://www.philiptarlow.com/anokato
windows 1 as it looked at the end of my painting day today
4:27 PM: i haven’t been able to walk up the trail since my dental bone graft, but today i was feeling good enough to give it a shot. the trail was snow covered, as were the big rocks we climb over, which are about half way up to the spot we usually stop & turn around. since we didn’t have our cleats, we stopped when we got to the rocks. tomorrow we’ll bring the cleats & walk further up. plus, starting tomorrow the temperatures will rise, and by monday will finally get back up to into the 40’s.
ANO KATO 51 35x56" oil on portrait linen, private collection, houston ,tx.
3:05 PM: when all is said & done, my ano kato series: https://www.philiptarlow.com/anokato reflects my deepest passion. i just love views from above. this one was inspired by photos i shot in MOMA, nyc. it was an ideal setting for me, as i was able to gtet up above the main floor and see the museum visitors.
i may revisit ano kato in the next little while, using new photos i’ve shot.
11:54 AM: this morning after my meditation i asked st. anthony to help me find my groove, and he/she did! so i did more work on what was girl with glass, which has become swirling creek III. it’s a pretty spare creek composition, with a lot of white, a blue sky and a few dark ochre trees.
swirling creek III, 8x11” oil on portrait linen
swirling creek II, 21x17” oil & collage on portrait linen
then i moved on to swirling creek II. i found the top portion way too busy, so i applied white oil paint , then drew and painted into it, also eliminating most of the blue surrounding the central tree branch, resulting oin a much more spare composition, easier for the eye to navigate and in harmony with the plein air watercolors i made while the weather was still warm enough.
my dental surgery site is doing better today & i’m less achy and having less pain at the surgery site, even though the black & blue mark you see in the photo of me at work seems worse. so i may do more this afternoon….we’ll see. stay tuned!
8:34 AM: it’s early & i haven’t yet meditated, but before that i’m painting over girl with a glass, which i think is awful!
1:39 PM: this is my second day back at work here in my studio since my dental surgery last friday. i’m feeling better, with less pain, so i got in about 4 hours of work on two paintings.
the first, girl with a glass, could now be titled nude girl with a glass, as her garments have dissapeared. not sure if it will stay this way; we’ll see what happens tomorrow. gazing at it from a distance, it seems a little too dark, but from up close, it has very painterly strokes and is appealing.
BELOW: the before & after.
at the same time, i was going back and forth between girl with a glass, and swirling creek II. the modifications i mad eon this one aren’t as radical as the ones i made to girl with a glass, and overall, i think they’re an improvement. but i need to do more, so perhaps i’ll be working on both again tomorrow.
i was able to break up the horizontal branch in the earlier version, which was too dominant and didn’t allow the rest of the composition to sing, by collaging a piece of a gestural reed pen ink drawing. i also broke up the creek water beneath the branch, both in form and color. that did work, but it still needs some adjustment.
7/5/22 creek drawing
2:20 PM: i always have my drawing book and colored pencils with me wherever we go. as a result, i have many drawing books filled with drawings made in doctor’s waiting rooms, on subways & busses, restaurants, parks, and the list goes on. some of these have become the inspiration for paintings in oil or gouache. but all of them reflect the evolution of my mark making over the years. BELOW is a small selection. the one on the lower right is of my Dad in the final years of his life.
girl with a glass, oil & collage on linen,8 1/2 x 11”- day 1
2:46 PM: after driving an hour each way to alamosa this mornig to have the bone graft/extraction site checked by my dentist, i went to the studio for the first time since the procedure last friday. it felt so good to be back! but i was feeling tired from the drive & had some elevated pain in the area. i wanted to do something, so i took an older small (8x10) unstretched painting on linen and worked into it with oil & collage before returning to the house & lying down. so i’m typing this from bed, while the unending political coverage plays on the tv.
the photo i worked from was shot about 5 years ago at an outdoor event with high school kids. there was a freshness & innocence about this girl holding a glass of water that moved me, and transformed this everyday moment into a timeless experience. i collaged two pieces; a map of australia, which appears on the upper right, and a bold series of marks made with a bamboo quill in ink on paper. i worked into it with a fan brush loaded with oil paint & oil sticks, and then scraped with one of my palette knives.
at this stage of my career, roads i have travelled, the development and ripening of my mark making merge with the influence of the great masters i’ve studied and integrate into my current work. there are references to: diebenkorn, matisse and dekooning. can you recognize them?
BELOW: top row left: dekooning: montauk II, right: diebenkorn: ocean park #72
bottom row left: matisse: the goldfish, right: diebenkorn: interior with vire of the ocean
BELOW: RECENT PAINTINGS OF MINE
genesis on 10-19-22 3pm.
ecole des beaux arts, versaille
10.19AM: today i’m staying home, resting & putting ice on my swollen cheek.
i’m taking the opportunity to organize my laptop desktop, amongst other things. i just came across this work in progress titled genesis. it’s inspired by this photo of the ecole des beaux arts, versailles.
it’s one of those paintings i wish i had left alone at this early stage.
6:12 PM: yesterday i went to the dentist to have a molar extracted. it had had a root canal, and was causing a bone damage & gum infection surrounding the tooth. the predictable effects of the surgery started showing up once the anaesthetic starting wearing off, and ramped up from then on. the pain & swelling is predictable following an extraction & bone graft, but you can’t really imagine it until it happens. i’m on antibiotics for the next week, and can only have liquids or very soft food.
so no studio today! and possibly tomorrow as well. then monday i have to drive back to my dentist in alamosa, which is 50 miles each way, to have the site checked, so no studio monday….we’ll see about tuesday.
often these breaks away from the studio actually benefit my work, allowing me to take some distance & re-evaluate recent work.
in the mean time, i’ll revisit two little paintings in gouache on paper, one of which has collaged pieces of maps, that i made back in april for my newborn grand daughter in athens. they now hang on her bedroom wall.
